by Will Manolis, Web Editor
 |
| © Bob MacNeil/extremetech.com |
We are not trolling merrily along. The fear today is not the troll under the bridge, nor the Internet trolls inciting
ire and hatred on online forums. The most vile and abhorrent figure in today’s intellectual
property (IP) community is the patent troll. What is a patent troll you
ask? Well, apart from being a litigious
bully, it refers to a person or entity that enforces patents against others
solely for opportunistic purposes, without any intent to actually utilize the
patents upon which they claim are being infringed.
How do you become a patent
troll? Find a bankrupt giant or
financially downtrodden startup, and acquire anything and everything in its
intellectual portfolio. With step one complete, spend the rest of your time
filing claims of patent infringement against applicants at the United States Patent
and Trademark Office (PTO). And so, the legal circus begins. The cost for a
plaintiff in a patent infringement suit is essentially limited to the cost of
filing the complaint, as it is usually litigated on a contingency basis. Alternatively,
the cost of defending a patent infringement suit is financially crippling
(expect at least $1M at a major defense firm).
What would
normally quell trollish posturing (read: offer a bigger goat, or tattle to the
moderator) is ineffective against a patent troll. It is a monetary beast, of
which will persist until someone ponies up the licensing cash. This practice
stifles innovation, and tanks otherwise valid claims to patentability, because
there is no business model that can incur exorbitant legal fees into
perpetuity. Unfortunately, this will continue until legislative action thwarting
the practice is passed. While forcing the losing party to foot the legal bill
may help to forestall frivolous claims brought by non-practicing entities,
there is no panacea to patent extortion. At any rate, beware the patent
troll.
